Tires on passenger vehicles and small to large size trucks are designed to provide the vehicle owner with many miles of safe usage. These tires are provided with a patterned heavy outer external tread surface and the majority of them are manufactured with an inner steel belt over laid with plies of nylon or equivalent inner liners that cross over the full width of the tire and down its sides and fold into the bead that seals against the vehicle's inner wheel rim. The multiple layer plies are molded into the tire to secure the layers in place, to provide protection from puncture of nails and other road hazards that the tire comes in contact with during its long running life. Most tires manufactured today are considered as tubeless tires and are inflated with air and or nitrogen under pressure, and fill the tires internal cavity, forcing the tires inside and outside bead to seal against the metal facing rim of the vehicle wheel and hold it in that seal position.
With all of these protective layers, the tires often times still receive punctures that perforate them and as they are under pressure when filled with air, they go flat and cannot be driven on.
A loss of tire pressure causes deflation of the tire and in some cases can even cause serious accidents, injuries and or death to the riders.
The main difficulty with a tubeless tire is that when the tire tread is punctured the pressurized air within the tire escapes and the tire goes flat. This will cause the lack of pressure against the tire bead that normally holds these annular tire beads against the wheels rim flange.
Once the air escapes with the tire underload, the vehicle's weight breaks away the bead rim contact and a dangerous condition is initiated.
This invention provides a means to prevent this type of accident occurring.
There have been quite a few patents issued that address this run flat problem, as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,993 DRIEUX for “rim and assembly of a tire and ring shaped tread support on same”. This invention applies to modification of both the tire carcass and the tires rim and does not apply to the present submitted invention
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,653 GARDETTO for “run flat support for pneumatic tire wheel”. This invention addresses the run flat condition by attachment to the wheel a rectangular channel open on one side and circular to fit on the outside of the wheel rim. This metal assemblage is screwed to the rim and the two open legs of the rectangular shape bears against the tires two beads and the rim to provide a close out box section intended for supporting weight when the tire pressure escapes from a punctured tire.
The annular box supports the deflated tire in the run flat condition and requires modifications to the vehicle rim on the installation.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,190 WILLARD et al for “run flat tire with an improved bead to rim interface”. This invention applies a belt package with a plurality of radially reinforced layers of belt plies to the interior surfaces of the tire tread and the tire sidewall to support the tire in a run flat condition.
This invention modified the tire to support such a tire in the deflated condition and does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,279 LACOUR, for “safety support made of a flexible elastometric material for tires”. This invention applies to the mounting of a tire on a vehicle's wheel rim. The invention modifies the vehicle rim to provide a means for capturing an annular tire within a tire assemblage that can support the vehicle when the tire is punctured and runs flat.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,308 YOSHIDA for “run flat tire system”. This invention applies to a run flat tire system having an annular core body of an elastic closed cell material installed in the tire when assembled on the wheel of a motorcycle. The tire for a motorcycle is designed to accept running loads on its tread and on its sidewalls as it turns and tilts during operation. For that reason the tread is not flat like an automobile tire tread but curved and thick on the sidewalls to accept running loads full around the tire. This invention provides solid backup to both the curved section of the tire and to the sidewalls of the motorcycle tire and is intended as a solid core for the tire to run in the run flat condition.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,808 B1 SPRAGG et al for “an expandable band for run flat tire and method of making a tire”, addresses this condition by making major changes to the tire. This invention molds into the tire carcass a series of metal bands between plies of the reinforcing fabric bands, and has the former overlaping each other and extending down each side of the tire's carcass to protect the tire sidewalls, treads and applies pressure against the tires beads and their contact to the wheel rim.
This pre-shape of these metal insert bands prevent the tire from collapsing and go flat.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,845 B2 NGYEN et al addresses “a support device within a tire cavity to provide run flat capability”. This invention is based on having a special tire rim that contains a metal cavity that has mounted around this cavity three annular tubes welded to it and to each other to provide a means for supporting the vehicle's weight and providing a means for the tire's tread when it has collapsed from a puncture to deflate against these tubes and prevent the tire from going completely flat.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,884 B2 KOCH et al provides “a sensor mounted on the inside of the tire carcass”, that monitors the movement of the tire's bead away from the vehicle's wheel rim to inform the driver that separation from each other has occurred and the tire is about to go flat.
This solution does not apply to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,114 B2 BOUVIER et al for “tire to rim rotation limiter for a run flat assembly.” This invention applies a means to provide for operating a vehicle during periods of both low tire pressure and normal tire pressure. The invention provides a means to prevent the tire to rim rotation by engaging beads and slots and indentations in the wheel rim to inhibit and stop tire rotation relevant to the rim.
This invention does not apply to the present submitted invention.
The present invention improves upon previous run flat tire configurations in that it can be applied to standard tires and rims and the previous known run flat configurations require modifications to basic tires and rims and suffer from a number of disadvantages:    (a) DRIEUX requires major changes to tire beads and tread to prevent loss of tire pressure that causes tire deflation and can lead to serious accidents.    (b) GARDETTO and NGYEN et al both require that the vehicle's wheel rim must be modified to provide structure to support the vehicle when the tire collapses.    (c) WILLARD et al require that the tire must be modified to provide a plurality of radially reinforced layers of belt plies to the interior of the tire's sidewalls and tire's treads.    (d) LACOUR requires a tire installed within a tire to accept a run flat condition.    (e) YOSHIDA requires that the tire must contain an additional solid backup core to accept the run flat condition.    (f) SPRAGG et al require that the tire must be redesigned and changed to mold in additional metal bands to prevent collapse of the tire.    (g) KOCH et al provide sensors that require the tire to be modified and sensors must be added to the tire manufacture to inform the vehicle driver the problem is about to occur.    (h) BOUVIER et al require that the tire and rim must be modified to contain special interface connections and variations to engage with each other and operate in a run flat condition.
Accordingly, besides the objectives and disadvantages discussed above in the various patents, the following objects and advantages of the present invention are:
A) to provide a run flat tire device that requires no changes to the vehicle's wheel rims;
B) to provide a run flat tire device that requires no changes to the standard tire;
C) to provide a run flat tire device that does not require sensors installed in the tire, but may use sensors for added safety;
D) to provide a run flat tire assembly that does not require attachment on the wheel rim a structure to support a vehicle in this condition;
E) to provide a run flat tire support device that permits the tire to operate in a run flat condition without completely collapsing;
F) to provide a run flat tire with a multifunctional support device that contains and maintains air pressure within a redundant inner tube even while the tire tread is punctured.
This invention provides a means for inserting into the tire, when it is first installed on the wheel of the vehicle, a circular multifunctional tire support device that permits the tire even when punctured, to continue to support the vehicle. It permits the tire to remain functional and not go entirely flat.
This invention provides a means for inserting into the tire, when it is first installed on the wheel and can be mounted on the wheel using common shop tire equipment.
This multifunctional tire support device provides a means that once the tire is punctured and looses air pressure, it still maintains the support of the vehicle and continues to keep the tire affixed on to the wheel, above the rim of the wheel, and will minimize any risk of possible damage to the wheel rim when driven in this condition. In addition, since the circular multifunctional inner support bears against the tire's inner sidewalls and minimizes them against extreme sidewise flexing, when the vehicle turns corners and changes lanes at high speed freeway, the inner barrier pressing against the sidewalls of the tire reinforces these sidewalls from those side loads that the tire receives when subject to such cornering conditions.
Thus, this invention enhances total tire, wheel, and vehicle handling performance. This minimizing of the tire flexing also aides in keeping more tread surface on to the road and inhibits side slipping and skidding on wet and icy roads operating during weather hazard conditions. Furthermore, it provides a means for elevating the tire that is partially deflated, but still on the wheel, and will maintain the vehicle's stability in a safe controlled manner. Thus, the vehicle can still continue to operate even after the tire has received one or many punctures.